I'm a big
fan both of the Hellboy films. They aren't great cinema, but they were
both solid summer fare, the kind of good comic book fun that we
hopefully won't completely lose in this post-Dark Knight world.

I didn't pick up the first Hellboy Premium Format figure from Sideshow,
and I always regretted it. He's such a fantastic looking character, and
stands out from the usual movie fare on the shelf. But Sideshow gave me
a second chance with their Hellboy II Premium Format statue, and I
didn't make the same mistake twice.

It's probably no surprise that there are two of these - a regular with
a run of 1000, and an exclusive with a run of 650. The regular cost
$325 at Sideshow, while the exclusive was $350. I'm looking at the
exclusive today, but the only difference is the extra left hand.

Packaging - ***
He comes in the usual big ass box, but there's only photos of the PF
itself, nothing of the film character.

If you were wondering how well the box and interior trays protect the
statues, I can tell you that mine had one corner that looked like
Hellboy himself had sat on it. And yet, there wasn't any damage inside,
and everything arrived safe and sound.

Sculpting - ***1/2
The PF comes to you in four pieces, five if you count the additional
hand. They include the main figure, the base, his left hand, and his
tail. They fit together easily, as long as you take a little care and
don't try to force anything. Pay particular attention to the tail,
since it's meant to go in one way.

The
overall sculpt is excellent, and I love the selected pose. Yes, it's
from the poster and other movie marketing ephemeral, but it's also
dynamic and dangerous.

They've gone with the perfect
expression
for the pose as well, and this is a much, much more accurate
Perlman/Hellboy head sculpt than the recent Gentle Giant mini-bust
attempt. It's not *quite* perfect to my eye (I think the nose is a tad
small here), but the realism of the texture skin and horns makes up for
the minor issues.

That realism is particularly
worth noting. Many
times, Sideshow has done PF's that are much like the smooth statues of
old, lacking some of the texturing and variation that lends realism to
the look. That's not the case this time, and this is clearly a step in
the right direction.

The sculpted tattoos on his body
are present, although removing his coat to check for all of them would
be a bit tricky.

The
stone like texturing on his Right Hand of Doom looks terrific, but in
it's size and proportions is where my quibbles lie with the statue
overall. The hand seems a bit too skinny and long, smaller in
proportion to the rest of his body than it should be. At the same time,
the length of the hand and complete arm seems excessive, making the
full arm seem too thin and awkward.

My other issue in this
category is with his overall size. He's a bit smaller than I had
expected for a quarter scale version, particularly when you place him
next to some other Sideshow PF's. The overall statue reaches 22", but
much of that is the base. The volume his body takes up - chest, arms,
legs - seems to be less than you'd expect, even considering the
crouched pose.

The crouched pose does help
cover up some of that
though, as does the uber cool coat. The slightly wonky looking right
hand/arm and the slightly undersized nature of the statue only
detract slightly from the overall awesome appearance.

Paint - ***1/2
The paint is great - but not quite perfect. Yours may be better or
worse than mine, since my issues are largely those of the specific work
on this particularly PF, rather than issues around more general aspects
of all the Hellboy II PF's.

The
dark red color looks great, and the black hair is clean and neat.
Unfortunately, my one big issue that pulls this guy down a half star is
related to that black - there's a mark on the top of his head where it
looks like the paint ran or dripped while it was still wet.

The eyes are very sharp, clean
and even, and have a slight gloss to give them that wet look.

There
is one other aspect that bothers me a little in this category: the high
gloss glove on both of the left hands. With a bit more of a matte
finish it would look more like an actual glove, but it's a minor nit.

Some folks might find the skin
itself too glossy for their tastes, but in person I think it works
perfectly.

Articulation - Bupkis
As you'd expect with the modern Premium Format figure, he's
just a
statue. Some past PF's have actually included articulation, so this is
worth noting in case you were expecting it, but the lack of it won't
effect my overall score.

Accessories - ***1/2
The exclusive version includes an accessory: a second left hand. The
normal hand holds the Samaritan, and the additional hand holds Big
Baby.

This is one of those times where
the exclusive accessory really is well worth picking up, especially if
you want this statue to clearly be a Hellboy II version. If you
already have the first version, having the Big Baby in his hand really
helps differentiate this one.

The hands swap easily with care,
and the post fits tightly enough in the wrist so that it shouldn't fall
out on its own. I suspect there's also a magnet up in there, but
because the fit is tight, it's not obvious when you're inserting or
removing it.

I
included a side by side comparison shot of the two weapons in his hand
to give you a sizing relative to the body and to each other.

Outfit - ****
The original intent behind Sideshow's Premium Format figure was to
produce statues that were constructed from mixed media. That meant not
just polystone or polyresin, but cloth, leather, metal, plastic, and
other components. For me, the greater the variety of
materials used,
the cooler the PF tends to be.

Hellboy is one that uses a wide
range of goodies to produce the final
realistic look. The clothing includes plastic, cloth, leather and metal
aspects, and this mixture really makes him stand out.

The
cloth coat is the most obvious feature. It's made from a thin material
that's in proper scale, with high quality stitching and a very nice
dark lining. The leather collar and straps look great, and they've
added wires around the wider collar (around his shoulders, not his
neck) and along the bottom of both jacket flaps. This allows the coat
to flair out at the bottom in various ways, depending on the look
you're going for. The wire in the collar is also crucial, allowing you
to get the coat in just the right spot around the shoulders and keep it
there.

The black leather pants have
plenty of stitching details,
and are very well tailored. There's a snap in back to allow you to get
the tail on and positioned properly. It takes a little effort to get
this re-snapped around his tail once it's on, but the pants are made
from a fairly stretchy, microfiber sort of material (not true leather,
but a material that certainly looks like it) that has enough give to
allow the pants to snap together again with a little work.

The
leather belt includes a ton of pouches (glued shut), as well as his
leather holster on the right and several important trinkets, like his
rosary and a couple monkey skulls.

The outfit is very impressive,
and this kind of work is what sets apart the truly great Premium Format
figures from just another statue on the shelf.

Value - **1/2
It's not easy for a PF to be worth more than three hundred dollars, but
I'd say this one manages it. With the very large base, and the
exceptional sculpt, outfit and paint, you'll feel like you're getting
what you paid for.

Things To Watch Out For
-
I've mentioned this with other PF's (and other statues, too), but
remember that the metal post that attaches the statue to the base is
much harder than the polystone. Be very careful inserting it to avoid
chips or breaks.

The same is true of the left
hand and the tail - don't force anything and take your time.

Overall - ***1/2
This is the nicest Premium Format statue
I've gotten from Sideshow in some time now, and it's in my top ten
easily. He has a couple issues that bug me, including the slightly
wonky left arm and the black paint mark on his head, but the pose,
design and outfit make up for any of these relatively minor issues.

I
figured I blew it when I skipped the first Hellboy PF, but I have to
admit that now I'm glad I did. I like this pose much better, and the
inclusion of Big Baby makes it all that much sweeter.

- Mezco released series 1 of
their movie figures, which are covered in two guest reviews, one here and one here.

- I ran two 'retro
reviews of the old Hellboy movie line - one for Hellboy, and one for Sammael.

- Gentle Giant did some animated
versions, including one
included in the most recent release of the movies, and there
was also a guest review by Poe Ghostal of the first DVD release of Hellboy. I looked at the
regular release animated
figures as well.

- for those into mini-busts,
there's also this
version that came with the release of the DVD.

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Reader Ratings!

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Yea, it's a five star system and not a four star system like
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but it's the best I've been able to come up with so far. You
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only rate once from any particular IP. My score converted to
a five star system for comparison: 4.38